Today we’d like to introduce you to Rubin Bryant.
Hi Rubin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was four years old when my mother, younger sibling and I came to Southern California and moved to the city I would affectionately call home, Oxnard, CA. I was born in the historical city of Savannah, Georgia where my mother decided it was time for us to leave and get a new start on life.
Fortunately, we had extended family in SoCal that helped us get on our feet. Moving to Oxnard positively exposed us to a diverse culture and community, which as I grew and matured, helped broaden my viewpoints and social skills in dealing with different ethnicities and cultures of all kinds. Being raised in areas of Oxnard like Colonia, Southside and the Westside near the Beach exposed me to many different outlets and extracurricular activities including Basketball, Dance, Music and Sci-Fi, which my favorite film is the Original Star Wars, which was introduced to me by my mother. These things helped keep me focused, disciplined, and enabled my creativity, which allowed me to dream. I dreamed a lot, especially being in Oxnard and surrounded by the many beaches in the area. My Mother supported my dreams and raised me to be expressive. My Mother taught me how to be able to channel that into positive energy. I channeled my energy into 3 things, Basketball, Music and Dance. As I got older, I realized that I just enjoyed playing basketball because I have been playing it since the Fourth Grade, but my love for entertainment, especially music and dance became relevant and shined through. My love for TV shows and movies grew as well. Ranging from musicals like Grease to Dramas like Kramer vs. Kramer. I knew I was born to be someone or do something in the entertainment industry.
The defining moment was my senior year in High School. I was asked to dance for Anthony Thomas, (Choreographer for Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation Tour) by a mutual friend of Anthony and myself named Kenny Lavis. The video project was for Playboy Entertainment. Yes, Playboy! He needed a new and fresh dancer and I fit the description. I was ecstatic. No, I didn’t have to be nude, but it was for a Centerfold of the Month video exposes. This opportunity taught me how to be and act professional, but most importantly, it exposed me to how a production is brought together and managed. That experience stayed with me for many years to come.
I kept dancing and performing in my younger adult years, which naturally turned into rapping and emceeing in a Hip Hop Duo, called Boomtown with my good friend, who is more like an older brother, Gerald White. Even though I was performing, traveling, and doing shows, I was also attending College. I still knew that an education was the key to everything for me. I was attending the local Junior College (Oxnard College), which I later graduated from and transferred to Cal State Los Angeles as a Business Major. During my senior year of College, I decided to take a break and focus on music. During this period, I took a chance to see if I had the stuff to make it. So our hip hop group partnered up with a good family friend, Kevin Suber of The Suber Group, who believed in us and started an independently owned label called Sube Records. We made our run, performing and opening up for big names in music in different cities, recording an album, making a few radio appearances; getting our music placed in a movie with actress Theresa Russell called the “Running Woman”. We grinded! This was another learning experience for me. It taught me to work hard, sacrifice, humbleness and that your talents can only go so far. There is a saying, “You are only as good as your last week.” So over time, the steam fizzled out and we all went in different directions.
Instead of going back to school, which I should have done, I went to work in the corporate world to find my way. Not too long after that, I met a woman, began dating, had my beautiful daughter, got married, had two more wonderful stepkids from the marriage and lived the family life. Things were good for a while, but the calling of the entertainment industry was still there, and I could not walk away from it. Not too long after being married for a few years, we had divorced but remained good friends and greater co-parents. I was back on my own, but now as a father. There was more of an emphasis for me to strive to be more and leave a legacy for the kids. I wanted to leave something that was mine. So, during this very strange time in my life filled with adversity, I created an entertainment resource company, where I managed resources in the entertainment field and connected people together, whether you were a singer, rapper in need of a producer or studio. I felt that was my way of getting back into the groove. I still worked my corporate job, which after years, I was able to work myself up through the ranks. I became a top sales executive in the educational industry. Although most of my experience during that time was in sales, I also became experienced in public relations, community outreach and partnership building, which allowed me to become a very valuable asset for multiple events and outreach projects for my corporate job.
Things were going well, but I was only able to go so far without completing my education. So, with the influences of good friends and co-workers cheering me on, I decided to continue my education and complete my Bachelor’s degree. This time around, I attended school using the distant learning program on my terms. The University of Arizona Global Campus is where I received my Bachelor in Communication Studies in addition to receiving a Master’s in Organizational Management from The University of Arizona’s Forbes School of Business. I realized that I wanted to focus more on the qualitative approach of business management, dealing with people as the most important resource. While I was going to school pursuing my education, I had reacquainted with one of my close childhood friends from 4th grade, Trae Briers who had ironically gone through similar life experiences. He was a disciplined filmmaker who had attended UCSB Film School then later received his MBA. At the time he was seeking to pitch a film project he had created, and I was in the resource matchmaking business. We both liked how we complemented one another, so we decided to make this official. It simply made sense to us, so we combined forces and restructured the entertainment resource company into a Film Production Company called FFAM Group, LLC, standing for Friends Focused About Movies. Trae loved making movies and I loved watching them, in addition to our childhood connection, love for entertainment business and educational paths, it all just felt right.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would be telling a lie if I said the road has been smooth for me. I would say the vision was always clear and I could always see where I wanted to go, but the road to get there definitely had peaks and valleys, dips and turns along with forks in the road. I really struggled for years with the ideals of the corporate world and moving up. I felt for a time that was the only way to get a piece of the pie or the American Dream. I felt stifled and could not speak my voice to help my company succeed and most importantly, help myself to grow to where I wanted to be. It felt like it was geared more to who you kissed ass to. It took me years to make a decent salary and I felt I was still being short-changed. While I was working my corporate job, I still maintained my own company part-time. It worked for a while until it didn’t anymore.
After almost 17 years in the industry and roughly 11 years with the current company, I was let go, which was a blessing in disguise. It allowed me to free up my time to focus on film and media projects, in which a few years later our production company released the independent hit, TRADE, telling the story of two men, one a streetwise hustler, the other a straight-laced lawyer, who meet and form a relationship that brings to light who they really are. The story being inspired by Christopher Bryant, my younger sibling, has over 10 Million streams across 19 different streaming platforms, including Apple TV, Tubi, Fearless, and Roku TV. In addition, has been officially selected for multiple film festivals, such as IMDB Certified Dumbo Film Fest, Toronto Independent Film Fest of Cift, Chicago Indie Awards and the Academy Award recognized Pan African Film Festival to name a few. This has led to multiple awards, including Best Producer, Finalist and an Honorable Mention.
Now, I am not telling everyone to quit their jobs or hope their job lets them go, but recognize your value in addition to learning how your company functions from operations, marketing, human resources and finance if you are privy to that information. Take that information for yourself and adapt and apply what works and what doesn’t work into your own specific industry.
This was my approach to help me through my struggle because I had realized then that being creative is where I wanted to be. Now I know the not so straight road to get there may not have been smooth, but the road was worth being traveled on.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As I mentioned prior, I have over 17 years of experience in advising and recruitment of adult and high school student’s degree programs to college for one of the leading private universities in the educational industry. I enjoyed helping individuals find their intrinsic motivation, which at times turned out to be more than simply money. My goal was to help people balance their lives between personal and professional life by showing them the way with their own solutions. They simply needed assistance pointing them out. I was in the business of helping change people’s lives.
Today, I am a Film Producer and Co-Owner of FFAM Group, LLC, a Film Production Company. FFAM Group is responsible for the 2019 independent hit, “TRADE, written and directed by Oxnard’s own and FFAM Group business partner, Trae Briers.
Our company has worked directly with the faculty of the Media Entertainment and Arts (MEA) Department at the College of the Canyons, as well as provided hands-on training and guidance to a group of MEA students. What followed was the production of two videos as the “launch” of College of the Canyons, Community of Caring Series, including a video focused on civic engagement and voting and the other on student anxiety and depression. In addition to being on the Executive Committee for the Oxnard Jazz Festival, I aligned a relationship with FFAM Group to become a strategic partner with Digi-Vue Advertising, one of the leading digital advertising and signage companies in the Los Angeles County.
I understand my calling, which is to speak greatness into people and help those who want to be the best version of themselves, whether in person or through film and media. In a result, the understanding of bringing quality performances, stellar customer service and attentiveness to my audience is a priority to me.
Any big plans?
My short-term plan for the future is completing our current film project, CUATE, which is currently in pre-production. Written by my business partner, Trae Briers, CUATE tells the story of a young Black boxer who is trained by a seasoned Mexican boxing trainer, who speaks to him in Spanish. The story is based out of the legendary La Colonia Boxing Gym and highlights our City of Oxnard and its culture, homing in on the Black and Mexican relationship. To help us bring the story to life and ensure the true and authentic vision, we brought together a team of Producers that would absolutely help to do just that.
We partnered with the 2 biggest boxing organizations in the business: Mauricio Sulaiman, the President of the WBC Boxing Commission and Tom Loeffler, President of 360 Promotions and their teams. In addition to these two powerhouse entities, we have added award-winning, veteran cinematographer, Alessandro Gentile, who also shot our Award Winning independent film, Trade, Oxnard’s well respected Community leader and Activist, Manuel Herrera, who is a key component to building awareness and community support, Joshua Ginsberg of Digi-Advertising, one of the leading marketing companies in Los Angeles County and Chris Ruzin, Award Winning Creative Designer for Oscar-winning films such as I’ Tonya, Parasite and Roma.
This project means so much for not just the production company and our team, but for the city we come from and what Oxnard stands for, Family, Tradition, Pride, Culture and Legacy. It’s bigger than us and I am looking forward to representing it Right.
My long-term plans are to help establish our company as a workforce contributor within our community. We want to bring Hollywood jobs to Oxnard and create a legacy for our families and beyond.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ffamgroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theffamgroup
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FFAMGROUP
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ffam-group-oxnard
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/rubin_bryant
Image Credits
FFAM Group, LLC
